Picture perfect

Time to change my profile picture, I rummage through my numerous folders to find that perfect picture. A perfect picture is one which is likely to fetch most comments and likes, one which people would rave about, one which would highlights my gorgeous hair, falling oh so perfectly, teeth white enough to give the Colgate add a run for it's money and face photoshoped beyond recognition. There were moments from my past, where me and my friends would go on a clicking spree, until the perfect pic was achieved. Folders named categorically with dates, frequent uploading on FB, waiting for strangers to shower their praises. Life for us was shallow and we were too naive to realize that true beauty doesn't have to be skin deep. I bet,  random people on the web are likely to send you a friend request if your gorgeous and  no one would even bother to visit your profile if you have stuck up image of Hannah Montana or a 'CUTE'  little kid as your DP.

Within months I have grown wiser, for me pictures are scarp book, one which would take me through the memory lane, make my eyes moist, make me giggle and bring in 1000's of odd emotions. I remember the day when my 1st laptop crashed , all my college pics went into dumps with it and so did 4 years of memory. Back at Amrita when my classmate accidentally erased whole of my C drive I did a thandav, not because my tools were erased off and I would have to bug 100 people to get it re-installed but, I was more irked by the fact that my terabytes of photo memory was lost. Things have changed and I try to embed the photographic pose up in my brain, capturing the beauty of the image, all the while savouring the instance. I am no more panicky and never attempts to try to balance my camera with one hand while stuffing my mouth with my favorite dessert. These moments should not lay forgotten in one's folders instead should be framed into one's consciousness. I have locked out my profile picture folders nor do I update picture frequently like before.

It set me thinking why the hell are we so intrested in creating new pics folder every week?.

Customer Satisfaction

I just felt like pouring all my angst into this blog. This is my vain attempt to prove myself right, after failing to do so on a wider platform. As a customer, what do you expect from a service, a site, a shop?. You expect them to outperform your expectations, or being a realistic person you are, you would expect them to fulfill the clauses they have promised. Anything below or down par is not acceptable as there are millions of other options waiting for you out  there and why should one stick to this brand/site alone?. My gain will in turn effect  the brand's/site's loss and in this era of mass communication a little negative publicity can topple even the biggies.


I am no expert in customer relationship, but as an end user it hurts when my expectations are not met with for instance, last day I rang up Airtel customer care on the hope of finding a solution to the ever frequent call drop at specific time of 1:10 and 2:10. Every time I make an international call to my clients, the call gets dropped at specific time. Every time  I have to pacify the clients by explaining that there is an issue with the connection. On those sudden calls to my dad where I have to tell him to pick me up from office, the call gets cut midway. I tried calling 121, 123 to speak to their customer care exec but, without any luck. Finally, my brother did manage to find a way to contact the customer care. First you will have to press 2 so that you can get more info about the GPRS offers. Hallo!! a normal customer would expect the customer care key to be present in the main menu. Why would anyone bother to press GPRS and then again 9 to talk to customer care executive?. My connection was getting dropped even before I could press the lucky number 9, after trying for 8 times I gave up. Dad who himself own a post paid connection with Airtel gave me his phone to dial the customer care. By the time the whole incident happened I was on fire, fuming and the moment the customer care rep(A lady) took the phone, I started spitting venom. She got angry at me and told me that as my connection is prepaid she will have to transfer to some other section. The call was transferred, and a guy took up. This time I explained patiently to the guy about the issue and how much problem it's causing me. He told me there is no issue with my sim and told he will transfer me to some other section. The bloody guy put me on hold for 15 minutes and then the call was cut. I mean WTH!!!, I am recharging every week religiously with my hard earned cash and I have every right to know why my calls are getting cut and that too at exact same intervals. Being Airtel or having a great add doesn't mean you are invincible and no one will raise a finger against your service.


Moving on to another site Bestylish.com. Online shopping is slowly catching up in India and being one not to be left out I joined the bandwagon and ordered something from their site on Nov3rd. After my transaction was complete I expected them to send me a confirmation mail regarding receiving payment. Alas No!!I didn't receive any and the next day I send a mail asking them to confirm the same and that's when I received confirmation. Common, if the site doesn't let me know if they have received the cash how will I ever know?. What if they don't and my hard earned cash disappears into thin air with both agents refusing to accept it's their mistake?. Finally A week passed and I expected my courier to arrive any moment. Alas No!! I again had to ring them up and ask em if they had send me the courier... the guy tells me that my order is cancelled as the item didn't pass quality tests. If so, why bother fooling me and other lakhs of customers by putting up the pic of the good which is defective?. In that scenario, ideally I would have expected the company to replace my order( I would have happily obliged) and send me my good in 3 days may be then I would have been impressed or even it would have been okay if their refund process was completed in 2-3 days. Being the site they are and being taken for granted that they are I didn't expect both the ideal scenarios and Oh boy I was right. And what about my refund?. Weeks passed and I am yet to get one!!. I would never ever shop from their site no matter what lucrative offer they put in. I have reported it their agents and also posted a message on their FB wall. No action has been taken yet. Whenever people ask me about the site, I tell em without even blinking an eyelid NOT TO TRUST EM. I know me not trusting em won't do any damage but still, when it comes to mouth to mouth publicising and mass media publicising, I can cause a small damage and their possible buyers from my circle has eroded and none of my friends may never try this site.


I don't know but some of the best bloggers feel that mushrooming online portals may initially give you a good treatment and as they grow they tend to take their consumers for granted. Because they are a brand , they consider themselves to be above the consumers and this would eventually lead to their own downfall. 


Am I being unreasonable here?. Spending big bucks, I expect quality, options and time from the brand I am loyal to. After all money doesn't grow on trees.

I vs ME

I have nothing worthwhile to write about, something that would inspire the person on the other side. Yesterday during one of our regular chatroom dramas, myself and Tbabu were talking about the inevitable :CHANGE. If I stand in front of the mirror and let Opal from the past have a conversation with this image, she would surely drub the ME as over girlish-self obsessed-diplomatic-aimless human being. I wouldn't be able to recognise ME, and I am everything I never wanted to be 4 years back. Time has this strange way of creating havoc in your life, it tosses you around and teaches you the truth the HARD way. I have changed and that's is something I have to own the responsibility for. I could have resisted the tides and stood up against TIME but, I didn't instead I just let it take me into the No entry zone. So, next time I tell myself "I AM NOT GONNA BE LIKE THAT", I will pause and think for a moment. What if few years down the lane, I become exactly that NOT GONNA BE types?. I am open to changes, I am ready to embrace them and make em a part of my life.

A Short Story

She felt weightless, as her eyes fixated from white dress clad fairies to the blurred images of people she recognized back from her memory. She was trying to remember her story. Loud weeps by her mother was not at all helping, she found it annoying. She was losing blood and litres of it and soon she would be joining her nagging grandparents in heaven. She wanted to narrate her story before her name was permanently erased from this planet.

Born as the eldest daughter of an upper middle class family, she had everything that an average girl could wish, a house, doting parents, a brat brother, shelves filled with medals and trophies that her parents proudly talked about to their colleagues, a handsome boyfriend whom her parents loved (they even were making arrangements for their wedding). Then why did she take such an extreme step? Love failure? NO! ghosts from her past? NO then what?. You may find it hard to digest but, she was a victim of depression. She always felt unloved, she always felt lonely, she always felt she was not good enough, she never had REAL friends. She knew something was wrong with her, she tried to talk with her parents and boyfriend but, both of them rubbished it of as her changing mood due to fluctuating hormone levels. She fought with ‘him’ over their dwindling conversations, he counter attacked saying he was too tired to hear her ramblings. On another day, she complained how lonely she felt even after being in a relationship and again he counter attacked her by telling that he was not a mind reader. She closed her doors shut, wept with her head under the pillow, smudged the kajal all over her face after all the only things she wanted were: to be reminded everyday that she was loved, she wanted to be held in his arms and be embraced, she wanted to be woken up by his dreams but, all she had were nightmares. The more she tried to push away, the more steeper she fell into a world she had not fathomed, she was eclipsed by dark clouds sucking away her joy. All she wanted was someone, anyone to hear her heart breaking tears, her sound echoed through vacuum and her own echo hit her ears hard. She felt this heart piercing call, to hurt , to torture her soul, she could derive happiness from proving her worthlessness. She tried to distract herself from the repeated calls by indulging in shopping. She forgot that material things could just provide momentary happiness, she would feel tinge of happiness when she touched and felt new things but, soon they would pave way to more guilt and turmoil. She filled in his absence with books and blogs, neither could either do any justice in erasing her pain. Finally, it was time to take a decision...the faces of all those she loved dearly appeared before her, it was as if watching a movie, a small biopic played before her....her  baby steps, her first day in school, college everything was being played out in random order. As she held the blade closer to her wrists she could imagine the pale faces of her parents, the pain it would cause them but, she had to get away with the pain which was consuming her..... she was left with no choice. She let the sharp edges of the blade kiss her flesh, she gasped for fresh air ....she saw blood all around.... She was losing blood and litres of it and soon she would be joining her nagging grandparents in heaven. She wanted to narrate her story before her name is permanently erased from this planet.

My Hero

Biting into my veg burger, my thought process was interrupted by my mom. Sitting opposite to me, munching her fries, she started the conversation

"You should write the blooper your dad did today in the blog (More on that later). People who know my dad from here and here needs no introduction to the GUY no:1 of my life. But, there is more to this man than what meets the eye.

He may give you that rough and tough attitude....even brush you in the wrong way, but behind all that ruggedness is a man who knows only to love unconditionally. As a little girl, like all the girls of my age my dad was the first super hero I admired and looked upto. No superman or spiderman could match the super powers my dad possessed. He had answers to all my silly questions, he had the magic wand to make all my problems disappear and more importantly he was one person with whom I could ramble endlessly.

As years passed, during the growing up stages I got quite attached to my mom. Though we never get along she could read my mind. I had to share all my secrets, had to have her with me during my bad days and I couldn't sleep without fighting with her. Somewhere along the road, dad was sidelined. For me he was more of a father figure, unapproachable and I was sure: A GUY CAN'T UNDERSTAND ME!!

Sometimes dad did let me know about his feelings and the pain of missing out on my life was evident from his eyes as he watched me and my mom talking ear to ear. 

Dad's road to success was not smooth. As the 3rd child (eldest son) of a war veteran and housewife he didn't get his way around like we did. Having to travel 10 kms per day to reach the school or not being able to afford new school uniform each academic year, he had seen the worst .But, what separated him was his tryst to learn, to grow . I have heard his sister say that he was extremely talented in languages. After his 10th, when his father told him to quit school and join him in farming, my dad was aghast. He wanted to continue his studies but didn’t have the resources to follow his heart nor did his father’s small income allow him to dream big. That’s where my dad's sister came into picture, married to an army guy she took him under her wings. A change in scenery ensued from lush green Kerala to land of desserts: Rajasthan, it was a drastic change for this young man.

He made it into Narcotics department all the while continuing his education. After 10 years he moved back to Kerala and to Customs. He married his superior’s daughter (Mom) and happily lived ever after.

I have never seen my dad upset and angry not even in situation where an ordinary person like you or me would think of giving up. He always maintains his calm at home (Though in office it's complete different ball game). I respect him for his vast knowledge; he is one of the best in Customs laws. He is never afraid to speak his mind, even to his seniors. He is the best shopping buddy as he even nudges me to shop. He has never told me NEVER or NO!!!. The biggest shoker was this incident when I truly realized the depth of my ignorance. One day while on phone with my fiancé, my dad happened to hear our conversation. All through the conversation I kept calling name, instead of the customary "CHETTA" my dad came upto me and said "You are so unromantic". Mine!!! Something that I hadn’t expected. Nowadays I do make sure that I put forward everything in front of dad first because he is more open to ideas, more onto my side than the other peoples (My mom on the other hand makes up for it with the sentence "what will people think")

Ok!I could go on and on like this about the virtues my dad possesses. Enough of praising my dad, what comes to mind is this dialogue by Suriya from the film Varanam Ayirram" NEE THAAN ENUUDE HERO DADDY" (YOU ARE MY HERO DADDY)

30 things to do before I turn 30

1. Prepare a sumptuous Kerala veg meal inclusive of 2 types of payasam(Kheer)

2. Get my licence both, 2 and 4 wheeler.

3. Take my parents to an international holiday.

4. Beat a guy in computer games.

5. Travel to 4 corners of India (Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Kashmir and Andamans)

6. Learn Salsa or any latina dance.

7. Turn vegetarian for a year.

8. Try at least one adventure sport.

9. Go down from size -- to size 26.

10. Buy a branded bag (A ZARA /MANGO/ALDO will do)

11. Walk on a 4 inch platform heels without falling.
12. Get my EX-MBA and move up to the post of Analyst before point 20.

13. Attend my brother's post graduate ceremony if he intends to postgraduate .

14. Buy myself a diamond stud.

15. Stay away from technology for 1 month ie, mobiles/ net etc.

16. Hug a dog.

17. Have authentic Chinese food.

18. Pray every day, and make it a habit.

19. Visit my school with my buddies and spend a whole day in 12 A.

20. Change company.

21. Go clubbing.

22. Buy "our own" house.

23. Not to fight with anyone for 3 months, not even an angry thought.

24. Walk on a beach @ 12.night, barefooted.

25. Streak my hair purple.

26. Say sorry to SOMEONE I have hurt.

27. Punch someone/anyone.(After my 3 months of being a good girl)

28. Spend one day, every year in an orphanage.

29. Write dairy every day.

30. Say a joke, to which everyone will laugh to.

Hoping for the best, lets see how it goes.

HAAR EK FRIEND ZAROORI HOTHA HAI

There is not even a single soul out there who doesn't love AIRTEL's latest ad campaign "HAAR EK FRIEND ZAROORI HOTHA HAI", which translates to each one of the friends are important . Airtel make it a point to call everyone around you "A" friend, how nice it would be to live in an imaginary world where there are no enemies right?.


So, here is my list of Zaroori friends


Hang-around friends : The kind of friend you have fun with, the kind of friend that you mall hop with, the kind of friend who understands your shopping sensibilities, the kind of friend who insists on paying the bill.

Back up Best friend  : While in school I had this friend, who was pretty close to me, he knew everything about me INSIDE-OUT still, I wouldn't call him my best friend. Why you may wonder...Cause I already had one. So, this friend was always the back up best friend someone who would console you, stand by you, fight for you, tease you and love you unconditionally even though you are never ready to hand him/her the crown of best friend.


Black Box friend : The thing about black box?. The box takes everything in without letting even a beam of light escape. Black box friends are the best secret keepers, one who safe guards you deepest-darkest-meanest  secrets.


Strange friend : One day this person comes and talks to you, the next day as you wave your hands up in the air, smiling wide they walk past you as you don't exist. This is exactly the type of friend you can never understand. The type that confuses you if there exists a friendship if any.


Silly friends : The jokers of the gang. They make you laugh and you are your brightest best around them. They say the silliest of things at the wrongest of times and you are left with no option other than to give a heartiest laugh.


We- don't -get along friends : I have a problem with this category. They are the one who finds fault with everything you do. I don't want to equalise this category with "Not a friend" cause everyone is a friend in this imaginary world so, this category likes nothing about you and the feeling is mutual. I had come across this category quite a few number of time.


Dramabaaz friend : The animated expressions, the extremity of emotions, one laugh and thud a fight and we are back together declaration, nothing can describe this volatile relationship better.


The emotionless friend : Hey that was a joke, pale expression. Hey that's so sad, pale expression. The expression seems straight out from the 70's zombies show. Sun or rain they have their trademark expression pasted over every season of the year. Whatever, the shortcoming he/she still is your friend right? :P


So, which category do you fall into?. Or do you have a definition of your own?


image:google